Merchant Marine helps leadEllwood City festivities

Ken "Dutch" Bleakney, 82, is a charter member and former commander of the Veterans Honor Guard.

Honor

guard

Merchant Marine

veteran helps lead

Ellwood festivities

Eric Poole

LEDGER STAFF

ELLWOOD CITY - Whenever Ellwood City-area veterans are being honored, Ken "Dutch" Bleakney is usually around.

A charter member and former commander of the Veterans Honor Guard, he is often among the ceremonial escorts at military funerals, and he is a past commander of the Ellwood City American Legion post.

Bleakney, 82, said funeral duties are becoming more common as World War II veterans reach octogenarian status and the oldest Vietnam veterans head into their 60s.

"The playing of 'Taps' means a lot to everyone," he said.

In recent weeks, Bleakney has been among the organizers for the Ellwood City Memorial Day parade, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. May 28.

Bleakney's desire to make sure veterans are recognized comes honestly. He is a veteran whose contribution was recognized belatedly because of the branch in which he served. In 1944 and 1945, he was in the Merchant Marines during World War II.

For many years after the war ended, Merchant Marines' sailors were not officially recognized as combat veterans and were ineligible to join veterans organizations such as the American Legion, an oversight with which Bleakney took issue.

"Without us, we wouldn't have won the war," he said. "We took all of the supplies over."

Merchant Marines' ships were usually lightly armed, often mass-produced and cheaply made, and their sailors had one of the most hazardous duties of the war, thwarting German U-Boat attacks.

Bleakney said he remembers the naval combat.

"We had ships blown up all around us many times," he said.

Bleakney's own ship, the E.B. Alexander, which had a capacity of 7,000 passengers as a military transport and could carry more than 21 P-47 Mustang fighter jets, sank after the war, but he wasn't on board.

He said he had been on leave and was supposed to meet the ship in New York when he heard it had sunk in Europe. After the E.B. Alexander sank, Bleakney was discharged from the Merchant Marines.

After the war, Bleakney, like many other Ellwood City residents his age, went to work in the U.S. Steel Tube Mill, but that career lasted only a few years. In 1947, he was laid off from the tube mill and went to work at George K. Garrett Co. for 36 years.

Bleakney eventually became a superintendent at the company, which made fabricated parts for cars but was best known for its flat washers.

In one 24-hour period, he boasts that the factory made 60 tons of washers, which required 240 pounds of metal.

Since retiring more than 20 years ago, Bleakney has been involved with the American Legion, honor guard and parade, along with spending time with Bernice, his wife of 60 years. The couple has a son, Carl, who lives in Slippery Rock, Butler County.

He also is an avid hunter and fisherman, and a member of the Ellwood City-Wampum Rod and Gun Club for more than 70 years.

He's probably best known for the honor guard and the parade. Bleakney has been a key organizer of the event, along with Archie Hemskey, who died last year. This year's parade will take place in Hemskey's honor.

The parade almost didn't happen. Without Hemskey, organizers thought to cancel the event due to a lack of volunteers.

The impending cancellation brought a wave of people stepping up to help, which saved the parade, which Bleakney said would have pleased Hemskey.

"He would have been upset if it had been canceled," Bleakney said.

Eric Poole can be reached online at epoole@ellwoodcityledger.

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